Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God

Joyous feast! The Tikhvin Icon is said to be one of the icons of the Mother of God written by St. Luke the Evangelist. In the 400s the Tikhvin Icon was translated from the Holy City of Jerusalem to Constantinople where the Blachernae church was built to enshrine it. Several hundred years later, in 1383, the Tikhvin Icon disappeared from Blachernae and appeared over the waters of Lake Ladoga in northern Russia, eventually settling near the city of Tikhvin, where it was enshrined anew in a monastery dedicated to the Dormition.

The Tikhvin Icon remained in northern Russia for many years, at one time helping the Russian armies defeat the invading Swedes. During the upheaval of the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union the Icon was taken from Tikhvin to the Latvian capital, Riga. When the Soviets began to approach Riga towards the end of World War II the Tikhvin Icon was again translated, eventually settling in Chicago with its caretaker and remaining there until its return to Russia in 2004.

More on the Tikhvin Icon can be found here. May the Mother of God's protection and prayers be with us all!